Tomorrow’s clean technology produced locally

The news for solar just keeps changing! Last week’s news article about the rapid decrease in the costs solar installation went from the abstract to the reality this week for Sustainable Melbourne Fund. Recently Scott Bocskay, SMF’s CEO, met with Melbourne based manufacturers that are actively investing in tomorrow’s clean technology.

A leading edge technological break-through pioneered by Monash University, the University of Melbourne and CISRO may see solar costs halve again – to approximately $1 per watt installed. The group known as the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC) has developed technology that can print meters of solar film using large scale reel-to-reel printing presses. This breakthrough is significant because it means access to currently unutilised space on buildings – vast quantities of north and west aspect walls and windows – can be covered in solar and the installation is approximately half current prices.

Coupled with this are recent developments of battery storage. Next week a Melbourne firm will launch hydrogen cell technology that can provide a sustainable alternative to diesel and liquid gas backup generators with applications for both buildings and isolated infrastructure. The technology uses a water electrolyse to “generate” hydrogen which, in turn, will be used to charge a battery supply. The systems are available from 2.5kW – 30kW and have a charge time of 10,000 hours. The coupling of solar with power storage allows energy supply to match energy demand for buildings that require constant energy supply such as data centres, universities and hospitals or any building that requires constant power and has an existing backup generator as a risk management strategy.

Sustainable Melbourne Fund is very excited to have next generation sustainable technologies being developed locally and we’ll be lucky enough to see the working hydrogen cell technology next week. Sustainable Melbourne is able to provide numerous commercial loan options which provide an environmental benefit – please contact us if you have an idea.